NAMM 2024: “One of the rarest and most coveted synthesizers in music history” - Korg is reissuing the legendary PS-3300, but it’ll be made to order and cost $13,000

NAMM 2024: We thought that Korg might have been done with its pre-NAMM announcements, but the company had just added a ‘PS’ to its list of releases. And we mean that quite literally, because today’s new product is a full-scale reissue of the PS-3300, an ultra-rare synth that Korg produced between 1977 and 1981. In fact, only 50 were ever made, and far fewer than that still exist today.

In keeping with this history of scarcity, Korg will be making its new PS-3300 to order, and with an anticipated price of $13,000, we don’t expect there to be a flood of people clicking the ‘buy now’ button. However, if you’ve got that kind of money available and have always wanted to own this particular synth, you might see this as a golden opportunity.

The new semi-modular PS-3300 FS will have 49 keys and 49-voice analogue polyphony, up from 48 of each on the original. There are three PSU-3301 synth units in there - effectively three of Korg’s smaller PS-3100 synths - plus a mixer and utility section.

What makes the PS-3300 so special is the fact each key can access three oscillators plus filters, envelopes and amplifiers, giving you 147 analogue synth voices to work with. Suddenly, that price tag doesn’t sound so ridiculous.

There’s also a 3-band resonator that can be used to emphasise three frequency bands. On the original PS-3300, this used a cadmium sulphide circuit, but this has been replaced with modern components to comply with regulations.

Each PSU-3301 unit has its own microtuning knob, and a new 16-program, 16-bank memory function means that you have 256 patch storage slots. USB/MIDI jacks are another modern nicety, as is a dedicated librarian app for easy preset management.

A non-playable prototype of the PS-3300 FS will be on display at the NAMM Show, with production on orders set to take place later this year. If, like us, you won’t quite be able to afford the asking price, you might want to consider Cherry Audio’s software version of the synth, which is significantly more affordable, or Full Bucket Music’s FB-3300 plugin, which you can download for free.

Find out more about the PS-3300 FS and sign up to receive updates on the Korg website.